Oakland University to join the Horizon League

ROCHESTER — The day Oakland fans have long awaited came to fruition Tuesday, as the school’s Board of Trustees swiftly and unanimously gave approval for its athletic programs to join the Horizon League almost immediately.

The Board asked few questions of Oakland director of athletics Tracy Huth’s proposed 2013-14 budget, which includes the move, official July 1, except to ponder: “Is there any downside?”

“It just almost made too much sense,” Huth said. “There was excitement, but we also had to verify that this was the best thing for us.”

Oakland University will pay a $250,000 fee to exit the Summit and $882,000 to enter the Horizon, both one-time fees, both paid for through what Huth called “external resources,” which don’t affect any academic program funding.

Huth said Horizon League officials extended the offer April 15.

The move spares Oakland from the laborious travel of the Summit League, which Huth estimates could result in savings between 20 and 25 percent in the athletic budget. The move also unites Oakland with a natural rival, nearby University of Detroit. The schools already regularly compete in most sports, with the exception of men’s basketball, a flagship sport for each school.

A pre-existing hostility between the schools has previously been voiced by Oakland, when men’s basketball coach Greg Kampe confirmed what many had long thought — the University of Detroit once blocked Oakland’s move the Horizon League a decade earlier.

“I don’t see any (animosity),” Huth said. “There’s a lot of support (from Detroit) for this,” adding he anticipates a great partnership and rivalry with the Titans which draws a focus on Metro Detroit.

Kampe was not made available to the media for comment Tuesday, but was scheduled to speak at an introductory press conference Wednesday afternoon.

An April report in the Green Bay Press Gazette called the move “a done deal,” but Oakland officials remained mum on the situation until Tuesday. Huth thanked his coaches for their patience.

“Speculation, comments and rumors have been swirling around our coaches for a long time,” he said. “This decision was not made overnight.”

The Summit League will also be losing Kansas City next season to the Western Athletic Conference.

Oakland joined the Summit League, known as the Mid-Continent Conference until 2007, when it transitioned its athletics to Division I in 1998-99, winning numerous conference championships along the way, including three in men’s basketball and two in women’s basketball. The school also holds 13 conference championships each in men’s and women’s swimming and diving.

Loyola-Chicago recently announced its intention to leave the Horizon to join the Missouri Valley Conference and flagship member Butler departed just more than a year ago to the Atlantic 10.

Rumors have swirled about Oakland’s destiny since.

Huth noted collegiate athletic conferences are ensuring they perform their due diligence in order to slow conference realignment.

“As all those dominoes start to implode at the conference levels, conferences and institutions are taking time to say ‘What’s the best fit, let’s make this right,’ ” Huth said. “They have to make sure it’s strategic and this is a long-range plan.”

Oakland personnel have previously shared their desire to join the Indianapolis-based Horizon, which offers a geographic footprint better suited to the Rochester-area school.

Oakland was situated as the easternmost member of the Summit, where conference road trips to places like the Dakotas and Nebraska strained the school’s travel budget for more than a decade.

Conversely, the Horizon League’s membership base spans the Great Lakes region with members in Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago and Cleveland, among others.

The reduction in travel is also expected to benefit Oakland’s student-athletes, who are expected to have more time devoted to studies and attending classes, according to school president Gary Russi.

In recent years, the Summit League has lost Oral Roberts (Tulsa, Okla.), Southern Utah (Cedar City, Utah), Centenary College (Shreveport, La.), Kansas City — and now Oakland.

Huth said he spoke with Summit League commissioner Tom Douple Tuesday morning and Douple took the news as expected. The league’s office issued a statement just minutes after Oakland’s board approved the changes.

“In the ever-changing college athletics landscape, this move was rumored and anticipated for several months,” Douple said in the statement. “Although it comes at a very late time in the year, we have adjusted our schedules accordingly and sent them to our member institutions today.”

Current Horizon members Valparaiso, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Wright State, Youngstown State and Cleveland State are also each former members of the Summit, once called the Mid-Continent Conference.

The Golden Grizzlies are also expected to benefit with the exposure of the Horizon’s online network, which features high-definition online game broadcasts as well as the league’s existing broadcast deal with ESPN, through which many conference matchups are aired on the network’s various platforms.

In addition to the added television exposure, Huth noted fans will have a more realistic opportunity to travel and cheer for the school’s various teams.

Huth, Kampe and Oakland women’s coach Beckie Francis are expected to speak, along with Horizon League commissioner Jonathan LeCrone, Wednesday at the Detroit Athletic Club.

LeCrone in a statement called Oakland a “perfect fit at a perfect time” for the Horizon League.

Paul Kampe is the online coordinator for Digital First Media and covers Oakland University basketball. Read his blog “Grizzlies Den” at TheOaklandPress.com/blogs/sports